Savoie Guide on-line at last …

The first wine region that should have been covered on Wine Travel Guides ought by rights to have been Savoie. After all, I do live part of the time just over an hour away from the vineyards. But, I was so busy editing and promoting the rest of the site I never got to writing about it. And, another thing … sometimes when an area is so close to home, you never make time to really know about it – sure, I knew the wine producers well from my visits/tastings to prepare for Wine Report, and also taking groups to visit the vineyards, but I knew virtually nothing about the hotels and restaurants, so it took some extra research to get it together. Eventually there will be two Savoie micro-region Guides, so far I’ve just written the arguably more important one ‘Around Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains’. For a flavour of the Guide, check out the introduction and sample extracts here – note this is by far the best way of browsing the micro-regions currently featured on the website; every one has the introduction shown and a couple of sample recommendations. It’s also a good idea to read ‘About our Guides‘.

Don’t forget the ongoing offer to readers of this blog for a worthwhile discount on subscriptions. Just go to the Subscribe or Gift Page and tap in the code D1BLG08 to receive 20% off Gold subscriptions, slightly less on the others.

One restaurant that will feature in the Guide ‘Around Annecy’ that will be on-line later in the year is the 2-Michelin starred Clos des Sens in Annecy le Vieux. Brett and I had a wonderful meal there with a good friend last month. We chose their least expensive evening seasonal menu – Printemps – at €49 and it turned out to be really excellent with really friendly service too. One of the amuses bouches dishes that is a signature dish of theirs was ‘Tartiflette Déconstructé’ – those who know the rather heavy, traditional Savoyard dish Tartiflette would be amazed and amused by this. We drank a deep, spicy Dupasquier Marestel Roussette de Savoie 2001 (they have over a dozen vintages listed), which was perfect in particular with the féra lake fish and then a half bottle of a rich Côte Rôtie 2004 from Burgaud, ideal with rabbit. Madame presented us with a little box on the way out which continued a sublime gâteau de Savoie reminding me to include this on the ‘Food Speciality’ section of the Guide. This restaurant makes a great summer night out too if you are close to Annecy as they have a beautiful terrace with plane trees and over-looking the city – there are now four rooms too so you can stay over.